Tech. Rock. Pop. Truthiness.

I’ve already mentioned Bloglines spam and consequently moved over to Google Reader, but now my little-used YouTube account is getting spam.

Gee, thanks moonbeam. I’m sure you’re just a naive hippie thrilled to view the silly video I uploaded featuring people falling out of boats, set to the music of “The Love Boat.” And don’t worry, I won’t look at your pictures because obviously you’re really shy.

I wonder if this is a new thing just since Google took over. Anyone else get any YouTube spam?

Yes yes — it’s that time of the year where it seems all I do is shop, drive or go see a movie.

On the shopping front, I’ve already bought about half a dozen Christmas gifts. In years past, I’ve been totally done before Thanksgiving. But then when I politely ask my nephews at Thanksgiving what they want for Christmas and I didn’t get them any of those things, I tend to not be the popular one around the tree. Because, of course, that’s what it’s really all about.

Bringing together shopping and driving is my new Honda Civic. It’s pretty rad. She’s been through a lot already, including some barf on the passenger side back door and trunk in the lot behind the Uptown theatre.

Which leads me to seeing movies. Here’s the new movies I’ve seen lately and my rating (I’m switching to a 10-point scale like IMDB’s):

Borat: Way more hilarious than I could ever have imagined. Sacha Cohen is immenesly talented — I wish he’d start pointing that talent away from embarrassing average people though. 9/10 stars.

Stranger than Fiction: This was not as funny or interesting asI hoped it would be. The whole wrist watch thing is pointless and it’s difficult to believe that a well-known English prof (Dustin Hoffman) reads Susan Grafton novels. 8/10 stars.

For You Consideration: Big whoopsie for Christopher Guest. After watching edgey comedies like Borat and even Arrested Development, this falls flat 90% of the time. But the old cast is always fun to watch, so it’s still worthwhile for fans. 6/10 stars.

The moment of truth has arrived, and boy does it hurt. Well, it’s disappointing anyway.

Loyal readers and friends will know that on October 26th of last year, I saw Paul McCartney in St Paul. I had 10th row, just about the center, an aisle seat. I made a sign that Paul acknowledged while he was up on the stage. Several cameras surrounded me. I grinned and held my sign like a pre-schooler holding up an original fingerpainting.

Well, I guess it was just too much cute for the film editors because I didn’t make the cut. I was actually nervous watching the DVD, waiting for the right part to come up. All signs (ha) pointed to them showing me, but they did not. Assholes.

Still, MN was represented. They play a sound clip of Paul saying hi to us in St Paul and there’s a clip from KSTP about how Paul had girls up in his room when the Beatles played Met Stadium in 1965. I bet KSTP got a bunch of money for that. Few know that one of those girls was a young Michele Bachmann, before she joined The Winner’s Way.

I’m still watching the concert (it’s about two hours long) but I think my chances are pretty slim now. Maybe there will be a next time. And since he’s single….woo hoo!

I just downloaded Firefox 2.0 (cuz I’m righteous like that on a Saturday night) and was immediately disappointed. It’s slower and only slightly smarter in terms of it’s once prize possession: tabbed browsing.

They moved the Close (X) button to every tab, but it’s only visible when the tab is selected. Ooooo! (that was sarcasm) They added a pointless, difficult to remove, Go arrow. They jazzed up the UI a bit, even added a new Refresh icon. I’m in awe (that’s more sarcasm).

I had been reading that tabbed browsing had been greatly improved with 2.0, but it’s no better in my opinion. Will someone please tell me why there is no setting within Firefox to open a new tab from entering an URL in the address bar? When do you ever really want to replace your currently selected tab with another web page? I can’t figure it out. I see people every day clicking the New Tab button or double clicking on the tab area, or right clicking and selecting a new tab just so they can open a new web site. It’s adding one or two completely pointless clicks to something that we do dozens of times a day.

Thankfully, the folks at Tab Mix Plus are almost on the ball. I can’t use Firefox without Tab Mix Plus but it’s not quite ready for Firefox 2.0. Luckily I found one of their latest release candidates and I’ve had no trouble yet. Keep up the great work!

As for the Firefox developers out there–2.1 better come out real quick (and decide whether you’re calling them add-ons like IE or extensions as you always have).

I love how all these gay Republicans are coming out these days. Good for that male whore for calling Haggard out on this stuff. Haggard is now the epitome of the hypocricy that is the “Chrisitan Right”, “Family Values” and most of the Republican party.

I hope Haggard and Foley now have a huge weight lifted off their shoulders after finally coming out of the closet. No one should have to live a life of lies, right?

Haggard had also been receiving attention for his appearance in the documentary Jesus Camp, a film about the religious training of children in Pentecostal seminars. Haggard put out the word to evangelical groups to avoid the film. In it, he is seen telling a crowd, “We don’t have to have a debate about what we think about homosexual activity. It’s written in the Bible.” Shortly after that, Haggard looks mockingly into the camera to say, “I think I know what you did last night. If you send me a thousand dollars, I won’t tell your wife.” The crowd responds with peals of laughter. Then he says with a wide smile, “If you use any of this, I’ll sue you.”

What are these people scared of? Each other? It’s certainly doesn’t seem to be God.

I can’t think of too many albums that I’ve paid for more than once. Pet Sounds is one. I suppose some Beatles albums qualify, but only because Capitol is a butcher. Extreme III is another, though I haven’t listened to the CD I bought to replace the cassette.

Now add to this short list George Michael’s Listen Without Prejudice (Vol. 1). It’s the one with “Freedom 90.” The one with the black and white pic of the crowd on the cover. The one that is so not George Michael before or since. He refused to be in his own videos (remember “Freedom 90″ featured only supermodels–some statement indeed). It was after the cross earring but before the glory hole scandal.

I listen to this album with a bit of cynicism now, if not prejudice. Bits are cheesy (I can do without “Mother’s Pride”, even without the Gulf War connections), but his voice is undeniably magnificent. The songs are sparsely produced pop or folky numbers punctuated by the voice of Wham! I love it.

Be sure to check out “Waiting for that Day”, “Cowboys & Angels”, & “Soul Free” (which is Justin Timberlake while he was still doing the Mickey Mouse club).

It’s at least the third time the skit, which includes a George W. Bush impersonator, has angered Streisand’s audience. A heckler targeted her at the Philadelphia opening of her 20-city comeback tour, Guttman said, and Streisand made headlines with her response to a jeerer at Madison Square Garden last month.

You know, I can sympathize with the drink thrower. Babs does concerts once in a blue moon and now she’s included some lame-ass political sketch? This is what people like Linda Richman pay hundreds of dollars for? That’d piss me off too.I’m getting verklempt.